The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 161. Journey To The Forest

It's been 4 weeks since our trip began. The journey has actually been pretty smooth sailing so far. The road construction was hard for the first 2 weeks. The drain on my mana was insane. If it wasn't for Sarah and Anna sharing their mana with me, this journey would've taken 4 times as long as it was. After the 2nd week however, things changed, I found the process of bringing Gil out and letting him use his magic becoming smoother and smoother, what took around 10 refills of my mana now has been cut down to 5. Gil says the strain is lessening because my body is growing used to it. Also, it seems my mana has grown by accident. I noticed when it took me 4 uses of the magic to require a refill of my mana. I was making longer and longer stretches of road without any noticeable change. Had I tried making the same length at the start, I would've passed out from mana exhaustion.

" Have you finished looking around?"

Sarah calls out to me as I'm in the middle of the road at night. This has become a force of habit recently with Gil. He reminded me that he can search the ground for metals and gems. He can also bring it to the surface as long as I have the mana to do so. These past 2 weeks I have. The bounty of it has been great.

" This is Mithril!"

Anna and Xaba exclaimed the first night as they looked at the haul Gil and I had gotten. Xaba was one of the guards who was chosen to accompany us. She was a dark, yellow-skinned Demon with 4 bright green eyes and long flowing light green hair. She knew a few things about precious metals and gems as it was her hobby apparently. While Anna and Xaba looked over the spoils, I had Gil hang onto some special ores I found.

" Are you sure, Matt?"

I nodded to Gil's words. I asked him if he could hold onto 3 gems the size of Human heads that were found the 3rd night we went digging. Along with that, I asked him to hang onto some of the Mithril that was found. The reason I wanted to keep them a secret is because of the colors of the gems. 1 was a dark purple gem that you couldn't look through. The 2nd was a Dark Green gem and the 3 was a pale blue that you could see through like water. I thought up a very special idea with them. The Mithril was needed for something related to the gems. I just hope the ones I'm doing this for will like my present.

" Dear! Look! This is Orichalcum! It's one of the densest metals in all of Gaia!"

" And this is Spider Crystal! It's made from special fluids from a Rank A Spider! It goes for a pretty penny!"

Anna and Xaba were enjoying the fruits of my little treasure hunt while Sarah watched over them while sipping so hot tea, she pulled out of her mana storage. Sarah's mana storage has... Well... Become a storage for all of the metals and gems I've been finding. She says it's fine since her Mana Storage capacity is equivalent to one of the Royal Treasuries, but she's also holding all of the rations for our 10-man crew, including food, tents, water and even medical supplies and extra weapons. Add on to that all of her own personal belongings and I'm just hoping I'm not over burdening her.

" I apologize for my college's behavior, Sir."

" It's no problem at all, Ned. I prefer if everyone was more like Xaba. This is a 6-week trip, there's no need to be so formal unless outsiders show up. At least, that's my opinion on the subject."

" There are some things we can and can't do, Sir."

" I won't command you to, but if you ever wish to relax, feel free to. You and your colleges have done great work for us these past 4 weeks. I'll make sure you guys get a gem or metal of your liking as a reward for your good work."

" Even the Mithril, Sir?"

" As long as my wives don't wish to keep it, I see no reason why not."

" But don't you want to sell it and make a profit yourself?"